From Europe to Jesi

After 6 months, my ESC project here in Caritas has now come to an end. I am so grateful I came here to Italy, grateful for al the wonderful people I have come across in this project and the things I have learnt. The people I have met have thought me to be truly grateful for al the different things in life and not take anything for granted, as well as seizing each opportunity you get. Not only have I grown as a person, my view of the world has been broaden and I hope I will carry al this with me in the future. I hope the next volunteer will have as wonderful of a time as I have had! Til next time, Karin 🩷

  ON ARRIVAL TRAINING (OAT) This week I had the opportunity to experience one of the most anticipated trainings for a European Solidarity Corps volunteer: the On Arrival Training in Frascati. The OAT is a week where you take part in team-building activities, cultural exchanges, conflict management workshops, and a visit to Rome. These are five intense days designed to prepare and connect ESC volunteers from all over Italy. It has been a week of meeting many new people, having lots of conversations, and discovering new and very interesting projects, as well as having the opportunity to explore possible new adventures for the future once the volunteering experience comes to an end. I am very happy to have had this opportunity because I have learned a lot.   Friends I met during the OAT — we took this photo on our trip to Rome! With my colleague from Cingoli (VivoloCorto team).

Appart from the work we do in Caritas, we like to expolre what Jesi and the surrounding area has to offer. So here we present you a list of some of our favurites things; food coffe and nice places to visit! SPOTS TO SEE: Lake of Cingoli Born from the damming of the Musone River in the 1980s, Lake Cingoli (or Castreccioni) is today the largest artificial basin in the Marche region. It's the perfect place to spend the afternoon with friends, eat lunch and have an aperitivo. Monte San Vicino San Vicino is a mountain of the Umbrian-Marches Apennines located in the province of Macerata, not far from the border with the province of Ancona. A perfect spot to go for a hike and the top of the mountain is the perfect place to have a picnic and enjoy the views. Perugia   A city of art rich in history and monuments, Perugia is a cultural, productive, and managerial hub of the region, and an international tourist destination. The University of Perugia (1308) is one of the oldest in Italy and in...

  Hi! I’m Júlia, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Barcelona! I’m the new volunteer in the European Voluntary Corps (ESC) programme, and I’ll be working for 6 months at Caritas in Jesi, Italy. So… you might be wondering: who is this girl? Let me introduce myself! As I said, I’m 23 (turning 24 in September — I’m a Virgo!). In 2024, I graduated in Social Education from the University of Barcelona. I'm the one on the right!! During my university years, I worked weekends as a waitress in a pizza restaurant, and later I had the chance to work with my brother in a small jewelry shop. These experiences taught me a lot — from responsibility and consistency to managing my time and earning my own money. After finishing my degree, I quickly started working as a social educator. My first experience was in social inclusion housing in Barcelona. Later on, I spent six months working in a women’s shelter and a day centre. After that, I joined Caritas (this time in Barcelona!) in a multi-purpose centre...

I can’t believe time has passed so quickly. It feels like yesterday that I arrived in Jesi and got a tour though the whole Caritas facility. But since then, six months have passed. This experience has been valuable to me in more than just one way and I will never forget the precious time that I spent here. It’s hard to put into words how much this project helped me grow personally and how much I learned while volunteering here. I’m so grateful for all of the people I got to meet during my stay in Jesi. My ESC project here gave me the opportunity to make friends from all over the world who shared a lot about their countries and cultures with me. Therefore, they made it possible for me to widen my horizons and it’s their fault that so many places got added to my travel list 😆 Of course, I also found a lot of new friends from this area who introduced me to Italian dinners (something I’ll certainly continue after coming back to Austria!) and who often planned trips to show me around the a...

Hello! My name is Karin and I am the new ESC volonteer here at Caritas in Jesi. I am 19 years old and come from Sweden.  I graduated from highschool in June 2025, where I studied a social science and classical choir music program. Although I loved it, it was a very stressful time and when I graduated I was mentally exhausted. I had no plans on going abroad or volunteering.  So, after highschool, I worked at a café, in elderly care and studied a night course in philosophy. I really enjoyed my work and found my studies interesting, but after having had the time to recover that I needed I realised I wanted to do something more with my time. I wanted to do something that would challenge me and help me grow, as well as doing something to help other people.  A year earlier, I had heard of the possibility to do volunteering through an Erasmus program. Although I was not sure that was what I wanted to do, I decided to check the possibilities they had to offer. Since I have studie...

After nine months of volunteering here at Caritas Jesi, Louise's project has come to an end. However, she wanted to say goodbye to you: It's strange to think that it's already over. As I write these lines, I'm already on the Flixbus, but I find it hard to believe that in a few hours I'll be in France! If I had to sum up my experience here in one word, I would say: encounters. I've learned a lot in 9 months: speaking a new language, opening up more to others, learning how to cook pasta properly 😅...but none of this would have been possible without the people I've met. Whether it was the other volunteers, the beneficiaries of Caritas, the people who follow us on our ESC journey, and above all the friendships I made along the way! Thanks to you, I decided to extend my experience, I gained confidence in myself and, sitting on this bus, I'm already thinking about when I'll come back to see you! So thank you very much, everyone, for everything, and welcom...

Ciao! It's Louise and Emma. Today we would like to share a wonderful experience with you, which we have made last Saturday. But first, we need to go back in time a bit… About 4 months ago, I (Louise) was called for my "On Arrival Training" (if you're wondering what is the OAT, go see  our blog post on this topic ). There, I was lucky to meet other ESC volunteers who have the same coordinating organisation as us (Vicolocorto), and also live in the Marche region. I particularly bonded with Laura, a finnish girl who is doing her service at the Red Cross of Cingoli, and Madalena from Portugal, who is volunteering in Caritas Senigallia. After the training, we kept in touch and decided to see each other again... which we did. We visited the Frasassi caves, Ancona, and -more important for our story- at the end of August, we organised an ESC lunch at our appartment in Jesi, where we all cooked traditionnal dishes from our home countries. From that day, we had the idea to do s...

Ciao! My name is Emma and I joined Caritas Jesi three weeks ago as the new ESC volunteer. I have only recently gratuated from school in my home country, Austria. After having studied for years, I could not picture myself attending university right away, which is why I decided to take a gap year. I wanted to use it to improve my knowledge of the Italian language, as I had already studied it at school. However, finding something suitable, even after I had learned about the European Solidarity Corps, turned out to be rather challenging. I eventually came across Caritas Jesi and decided to send in my application, which turned out to be just the right decision. After having completed all the necessary steps before my departure, I finally arrived in Jesi three weeks ago. As you can see, I haven't been here for long, but I already feel like being a part of the diverse, committed and unbelievably welcoming team of Caritas Jesi. At the beginnig, I had this fear of feeling alone in a foreign...